First trimester maternal plasma proteomic changes predictive of spontaneous moderate/late preterm delivery

Abstract

Objective

Identification of differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) in first trimester maternal plasma between pregnant women with a subsequent spontaneous moderate/late Preterm Delivery (sPTD) and women who delivered at term. The sPTD group consisted of women who delivered between 32°^/7 and 36^6/7weeks of gestation.

Methods

Isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantification (iTRAQ) coupled with LC–MS/MS was used for the analysis of five first trimester maternal plasma samples obtained from women with a subsequent moderate/late preterm sPTD and five women with term deliveries. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was further applied in an independent cohort of 29 sPTD cases and 29 controls to verify the expression levels of selected proteins.

Results

236 DEPs, mainly linked to coagulation and complement cascade, were identified in first trimester maternal plasma obtained from the sPTD group. Decreased levels of selected proteins, namely, VCAM-1, SAA, and Talin-1, were further confirmed using ELISA, highlighting their potential as candidate predictive biomarkers for sPTD at32°^/7 and 36^6/7weeks of gestation.

Conclusion

First trimester maternal plasma proteomic analysis revealed protein changes associated with subsequent moderate/late preterm sPTD.

Keywords:

• Preterm delivery (PTD)
• spontaneous preterm delivery (sPTD)
• proteomics
• biomarkers
• early prediction

Authors’ contributions

DM: experimental work, data analysis, literature search and manuscript preparation, MT: sample and data collection, sample selection, literature search and manuscript preparation, GL and MA: bioinformatic and statistical analyses, NP: sample selection, literature search and manuscript critical review. JTS: sample selection, literature search and manuscript critical review, JD: sample and data collection, sample selection, and critical review AK: conceived and designed the experiments and provided critical review. All authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. Please also refer to the “Materials and Methods” section.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

No funding received.